Apple’s Knowledge Navigator

Apple’s Knowledge Navigator revisited: Jon Udell points us to an interesting promotional video produced by Apple in (apparently) the late 80s touting the futuristic technology of the “Knowledge Navigator.” Jon links to a copy of the video and talks a little about where it went right and wrong in the last 15 years.

“During my session at BloggerCon I referred to Apple’s famous Knowledge Navigator concept video. I first saw that video in 1988. Today I tracked down a copy and watched it again. It stands the test of time rather well! Certain elements of that vision are now routine — for example, Google found me the video and WiFi delivered it to a PowerBook which, when equipped with its iSight camera, bears a family resemblance to the Dynabook-like talking computer featured in the video. Other aspects are still far out of reach, especially the conversational interface based on deep understanding of natural language.”

Watch the video. It’s interesting to note that a lot of the things people wanted computers to do 15 years ago are things we’re still trying to get them to do today.

Deane Barker is a Founder and Consulting Analyst at Blend Interactive. Blend, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, helps institutions and agencies tackle complicated web and content problems.

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